Offering price

A security's offering price is the price at which it is taken to market at the time of issue. It may also be called the public offering price.

For example, when a stock goes public in an initial public offering (IPO), the underwriter sets a price per share known as the offering price. Subsequent share offerings are also introduced at a specific price.

When the stock begins to trade, its market price may be higher or lower than the offering price. The same is true of bonds, where the offering price is usually the par, or face, value.

In the case of open-end mutual funds, the offering price is the price per share of the fund that you pay when you buy.

If it's a no-load fund or you buy shares with a back-end load or a level load, the offering price and the net asset value (NAV) are the same. If the shares have a front-end load, the sales charge is added to the NAV to arrive at the offering price.